Vietnam is endeavouring to reach its goal of becoming one of the world’s leading shipbuilding nations. There has already been substantial investment in modern shipbuilding equipment and practices, and orders worth USD billions have been secured.

Vinashin has ambitions to become the world’s fourth largest shipbuilder over the next decade, compared to its current sixth position. In the space of just a few years, the industry has made the transition from a builder of small vessels for local use to a competitive player in the international market for an increasingly diverse range of ships up to the 100 000dwt category and beyond.

Now the focus is on training and education to enhance the development of the country’s competency and capacity. The growth of Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry over the past few years has been described by market observers as ‘remarkable’ and, in spite of its record-high inflation, the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) remains confident that it will become a major force in shipbuilding.
“As reported in the media, Vietnam,
like other Asian countries, is suffering from high inflationary pressures and this has resulted in some credit challenges for us. However, we have the backing of the Vietnamese government and will continue moving towards our goal of becoming the world’s fourth largest shipbuilder by 2015,” states Mr Nguyen Quoc Anh, CBO of Vinashin.

Explosive growth
Indicating the explosive growth of Vietnamese shipbuilding, Vinashin, which controls the majority of the country’s shipyards, has registered annual growth in excess of 30% over the past ten years. Starting with landmark orders placed by Graig for handymax bulkers, the state-run shipbuilder has bagged orders worth USD billions from other owners such as MPC Marine, Clipper and Ray Car Carriers.
The growth of Vinashin as an international shipbuilder has, however, required large investment – and the shipbuilder’s debts have mounted, with Vinashin investing not only in shipbuilding but also in a wide variety of other ventures to build up marine machinaries as supporting industry. As a result of credit difficulties combined with high steel prices, Vinashin has been forced to cut back on non-core projects and to concentrate, instead, on its shipbuilding projects.

“We have the support of the government and investment banks so it’s business as usual for Vinashin’s shipbuilding interests,” emphasises Mr Anh. “Our shipowner customers can rest assured that we will not only build their ships to a good quality standard but will also grow and make Vietnam a substantial shipbuilding nation.”

With new shipbuilding facilities coming on-stream, it is anticipated that Vinashin’s network will include 33 shipyards by 2010. At the same time, Vinashin is investing heavily in extensive shipyard modernisation at many of its existing yards.

Bridging the gap
“The shipbuilding industry in Vietnam is still lagging behind that of other countries, particularly the major nations Korea, Japan and China,” says Mr Anh, adding that “To bridge the gap, Vinashin has invested millions of dollars to improve its shipyards through modernisation and increased efficiency and rationalisation.”
He adds, “We will continue to invest in the hardware but we also need to invest in people and enhance our competency and capacity.”
Vinashin has hired DNV as a strategic partner to develop a three-year training programme for the state shipbuilder’s management and staff. It is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and more than 1,200 people will be trained each year.

”The utilisation of advanced technology is important but is not enough. Only through collaboration with well-reputed international companies like DNV and its Academy can the shipbuilding industry in Vietnam see further development,“ says Mr Anh.

Collaboration project
In a separate initiative, this June saw the launch of what is dubbed the ‘Twinning Programme’ between Vietnam Maritime University (Vimaru), Vinashin, Marintek in Norway and DNV. The objective is to enable Vimaru to meet the technical needs of the country’s shipbuilding industry in areas such as naval architecture education and research and development.
“One of the main aims of the collaboration is to hire teaching staff and experts from Norway,” says Dr. Dang Van Uy, the President of Vimaru. “Indeed, international projects such as this one are extremely useful as they significantly contribute to improving the quality of our education, training and scientific research activities,” he points out.

Established in 1956, Vimaru has played an important role in the provision of manpower to the shipping and shipbuilding industry. It currently runs about 30 higher education degree programmes and enrols about 2,300 students each year to meet the growing industry needs.
“Recently, Vimaru has been actively engaged in the exchange of researchers and conducting joint research with foreign universities in the fields of maritime science and technology, shipbuilding and seaport
& ship operations,” says Mr Truong, adding that “This work is helping to support the industry, but we need more assistance from our international business relations if we are to further develop our education and training to meet future industry needs.“

Potential growth area
Some time ago, DNV identified Vietnam as a potential growth area for shipbuilding to follow on from China. “DNV has the technical know-how and managerial capability to help yards improve their shipbuilding capabilities,” says Dr George McHenry, the Head of the DNV Academy in Vietnam. “We find there is a willingness to learn and invest in new technology. However, there is a gap between academia and the needs of the industry, mainly due to the capabilities and lack of capacity within the academic sector.”
DNV is probably the most important classification society for Vietnam’s fast expanding shipbuilding industry, accounting for approximately 80% of the country’s total order book. “Our order book has surpassed 2 million grt and by the end of this year we expect the number of orders to DNV class to reach 80 vessels,” says Dr McHenry.

Commenting on DNV’s role in Vietnam, Mr Anh says “DNV is an important partner for us, not only supplying traditional classification services but also helping us with our expansion, not least on the training side,” he says and concludes, “Indeed, we remain bullish on our prospects for the future. With the help of international partners like DNV, we are confident that we will be able to move higher up the shipbuilding league table.”